Sisters Faith Miles, 4, left, and Cherish, right, discuss how old they currently are at the Dawson Orman Eduction Center's Head Start class. Jan. 26, 2015(Photo: , Maggie Huber, Special to The C-J)Buy Photo

Just moments before, Superintendent Marty Pollio had ensured the board that the changes would be good for kids. He said no one would lose their jobs.

But for the women then huddled in the lobby of JCPS headquarters, that wasn’t the case. Each would now be out of work, no longer contracted by the district to support preschool students and their families.

The positions, known as family advocates, are required by the federal Head Start and Early Head Start programs, both of which serve kids from low-income households. With a mission of closing the achievement gap, family advocates support parents in helping their children to be kindergarten-ready, often focusing on things outside the classroom such as medical, vision and dental services.

Without their services, the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers would continue to grow, one woman warned the board prior to its vote.

Though the positions will exist if another organization scoops up the Head Start grant forfeited by JCPS, the women's shock illustrated how many in Jefferson County were caught off-guard by the district's decision to forfeit $15 million in federal grant money and a program that serves the community's most vulnerable kids.

JCPS critics, including interim Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis, have seized upon the decision as further evidence that the state must take over the 101,000-student district. That criticism was bolstered by a federal report released two days after the vote that found the district had failed to correct issues in its Head Start programs, putting student safety at risk.

"Fifteen million dollars that could be going to support our children is gone," Lewis said a week after the board vote. "Where's the sense of outrage in our community that we've lost this money that should be going to supporting our children?"

Sammy Jones, one of the family advocates contracted through Shine Early Learning, told the board before the vote that the changes were "not in the best interest of our students and families.”

She described families the advocates had supported through their work with JCPS, including a single mother who Jones said “was broke, depressed and about to give up.”

“But because of the support of Shine Early Learning, she now has two jobs, a car and a stable home,” Jones said, adding that she feared JCPS would not be able to provide the same level of support to families if it gave up the federal grant — and, with it, the family advocates.

The family advocates will be among 35 positions contracted through Shine that the district is eliminating. The positions supported 1,551 children and families in the district, according to parent company Shine Implement.

JCPS spokesman Daniel Kemp said students instead will be supported by social workers and school-based Family Resource Centers. The district also will continue a mental health consultation contract with the Kent School of Social Work at the University of Louisville, he said.

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JCPS contends the changes — which include investing $8 million of its own money into early childhood centers — will ultimately enable more youngsters to be served.

Starting next school year, JCPS will consolidate its preschool programs from 62 locations to 41. The centers will focus solely on preparing 3- and 4-year-old students for kindergarten. (The district had been caring for children younger than 3, including infants, as a part of its grant requirements.)

No seats for 3- and 4-year-olds will be lost, with a projected 3,672 spots available for the 2018-19 school year, Kemp said.

By maintaining the number of seats at JCPS and allowing another operator to offer Head Start seats, Pollio said at the board meeting that the changes will "drastically and dramatically increase the amount of students that are serviced in JCPS and outside of JCPS to be more kindergarten ready."

No early childhood staff directly employed by JCPS will be laid off, Pollio said.

In the 2017-18 school year, 55 percent of JCPS students entering kindergarten were considered prepared, according to district data.

Research shows that high-quality early childhood education is critical to closing the achievement gap.

Pollio and other JCPS officials said the district is trying to learn from its past mistakes. Often, it has spread itself too thin, they said.

“Although we’d love to serve all children starting as early as we could, we have to focus" on kindergarten readiness, said Carmen Coleman, chief academic officer for the district. “That's where we will best use our resources.”